Cauliflower puree makes a lovely and unassuming, yet surprisingly delicious base for a trendy smear on a plate. An easy and quick dish if ever there was one, cauliflower puree is capable of producing wonderful, earthy flavors underneath a variety of foods like pan-seared scallops, butter poached lobster, or braised beef cheeks.

A dollop and a smear, that’s all it takes, like one sees in virtually every cooking television program when plating.

Yesterday was the Autumnal equinox. This is perhaps my favorite day of the year, ushering in a beautiful season filled with root vegetables in bright shades of orange and yellow, deep wine-stained pomegranates and beets, and knobbly, homely vegetables like celeriac and Eastham turnips.

We awoke today to quintessential mid-September weather, complete with deep blue sky and dappled golden light filtered through the pine and oak trees, and a soft warmth in the air you know will turn into a brisk chill at night. It’s a relief to know our sweaters can finally be liberated from their summer slumber.

It was a busy day. With little time to spare, we picked up fresh Jonah crab meat from the fishmonger. We wanted to make use of some intensely flavored leftover red pepper and lobster jus, so we decided to make Jonah crab cakes. A tangle of frisee, a few crispy crab cakes, a dollop of homemade aioli, and chives from the garden scattered like leaves blown in the yard, along with a side of leftover steamed green beans from the garden and the leftover red pepper and lobster jus made for a quick and thrifty dinner, using up tasty leftovers. It was a mostly recycled dinner if you will, but a tasty one at that.

In between the rainstorms it became rather hot and humid today. After struggling with the idea of what to have for dinner we decided upon something to celebrate the end of summer with bright flavors which requires little cooking. We easily agreed upon tempura fish tacos.